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Updated: Jun 15, 2025

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Published on: April 23, 2019
Changing patterns of hospitalization for sedative misuse among youth aged 10-24 years in Quebec, Canada
Nathalie Auger1,2,3,4, Jessica Healy-Profitós1,2, Gabriel Côté-Corriveau1,2,5
1University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Purpose:
To assess trends in hospitalization for sedative misuse among youth.
Methods:
Using a serial cross-sectional design, we computed hospitalization rates for sedative-related suicide attempts, sedative use disorders, and other sedative poisonings within individuals aged 5-24 years in Quebec, Canada. We computed sedative-related hospitalization rates in 2006-2011, 2012-2017, and 2018-2023, and examined differences according to age, sex, polysubstance use, mental health comorbidity, and social vulnerability using rate ratios (RR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) comparing the last time period relative to the first.
Results:
Sedative-related hospitalization rates more than doubled during the study. Suicide attempts using sedatives increased from 50.5 per 100,000 youth in 2006-2011, to 82.2 in 2012-2017 and 114.4 in 2018-2023 (RR 2.26, 95 % CI 1.63-3.15), while sedative use disorders increased from 13.1 to 21.8 and 60.5 per 100,000 in these same time periods (RR 4.62, 95 % CI 2.54-8.40). Rates increased for 10-24 year-olds and in both sexes, particularly among youth with polysubstance use, anxiety and attention disorders, and social vulnerability.
Discussion:
Sedative misuse requiring hospitalization appears to be a growing issue among youth.
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